


The Boy At the Bar

by ThatOddNerd



Series: The Boy At The Bar [1]
Category: Vicious (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-09 08:35:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1976259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOddNerd/pseuds/ThatOddNerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Freddie could never exactly be able to pinpoint what it was that drew him to the young man behind the bar that night. All he knew was that he wanted to get to know him and know him well. Penelope teased him, Violet laughed at his dramatic declaration that he would get the guy's number, and Clive...well Clive refused to say anything.</p><p>(Now going to be a series of one-shots. Chapter three is up.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: We know a little about how the guys met, at a bar with Stuart as a bartender, when they were really young. I just wanted to expand on it.

* * *

 

"I say you should go talk to him." Penelope said, her third drink of the night firmly in her grasp and her head on his shoulder. "He's....he's adorable. And he likkkeesss you. Just like you like him."

They'd been at this new pub near the school for three hours now. Despite only being on her third , small drink, Penelope was already drunk. Freddie wondered why he'd thought this was a good idea, but he couldn't honestly say. A young woman named Violet had talked them into it, after meeting them earlier that day and knowing them all of two hours. When they'd asked her what prompted her to invite two complete strangers to a pub her best friend had just started working at, she had told them she knew they'd all end up best friends. When asked why she believed that, she simply said "Oh darlings, I just _know_." 

So there they were. 

"I agree with our drunk blonde pixie here. Go over there. He's been eyeing you all night, I promise. Go on darling, take the plunge." Violet's comment sent Penelope into a fit of giggles, which eventually caused her to fall out of the booth they were occupying. "Dear God, this girl is a mess." Violet sighed and rubbed her temples, vexed, before she got up and helped her new friend back up. 

"I don't know... I mean what... I..." 

"Oh lord, I've never see...seen him tongue tied before, the pompous ass." Penelope smirked at her friend and patted his head. "You like him, go talk to him." 

"I do not..." Freddie insisted, blushing just a bit. Violet laughed at this. 

"Darling, you've been eye-fucking the man for the last three hours. Go over there and talk to him." Freddie could tell she was dying to laugh at that moment, but wouldn't get up, his pride meaning too much to him.

"This is 1964, girls. The world isn't exactly as ...accepting for people like me yet. How do I know he won't just...laugh at me or call the police? Help! 'Some homosexual is trying to pick me up!' . I'd get arrested and thrown in jail and then one of you two biting birds would have to come bail me out. No thank you."

"Yes, but this area has been more accepting and I bet you he is gay." Violet replied, still smirking. 

"How do you know?" Freddie asked, skeptically.

"I just have a feeling. Go on darling, I know you're dying to talk him up. Go!" Violet actually pushed him out of the booth, and shoved him towards the bar, smirk _still_ in place. 

"I'll hate you forever when he laughs in my face." Freddie warned as he walked away.

"Yes yes darling, I know." Violet waved him off, watching him slowly walk up to the bar.

"Wait...wait..." Penelope hiccuped and then stared at her new friend, a semblance of clarification in her eyes. "Didn't you say you had a friend who just started working here?" 

"I  may have..." Violet said innocently, rolling her eyes and taking another sip of whiskey. 

"Sneaky." Penelope commented, looking around the pub for people she knew and seeing Freddie standing ten feet away from the actual bar. "OH FOR FUCKS SAKE JUST GO OVER THERE AND ASK HIM OUT YOU WANKER!" she shouted in her drunken haze. Freddie, she could tell, turned bright red, something that didn't happen often. The young man behind the bar...she couldn't see  in the semi-dim light but she was sure he was blushing as well. Freddie stood up straight and walked right over, as if he hadn't just been embarrassed in front of the entire pub by his best friend. The young man smiled as he approached and Penelope couldn't help but wonder if he swung her way as well. He was pretty attractive...

Over at the bar, Freddie had put on his mask of confidence and decided to go for it, because really, what's the worst that could happen?

 _'He could reject you, that's what.'_ his mind offered. _' And that is the last thing on the planet you want right now, and you know it.'_

It wouldn't be the end of the world if he rejected him. That's silly. He'd get over it. 

 _'Nooo you wouldn't.'_ his mind sing-songed. _' He's different and you know it. You'd never get over him.'_

That bloke Clive was interested in him he was sure. If this bar fellow didn't work out he'd just...

 _' Clive fancies you sure, but do you fancy him? Moreover, is he tugging at you as much as this dashing young man?'_ His mind again. Bugger. 

"What'll you have?" a soft voice broke through his mind's haze and made him snap his head towards the sound. The young man behind the bar. 

"I uh...well you're name and phone number would be nice." Real smooth Thornhill. Nice. Good to know that money for your major in acting is well spent. The young man cocked an eyebrow at him and Freddie believed right then and there that he'd blown it. 

"Did Vi put you up to this?" Freddie was a bit taken aback by the almost accusatory tone he heard in the lovely young man's voice. 

"Excuse me?" Freddie asked. 

"Vi. Violet. Did Violet put you up to this? Or was it a dare? Either way, get lost. I'm not in the mood to be pranked just because I'm gay." Freddie was _very_ taken aback by this. 

"I wasn't put up to this as a prank. I wanted to ask you out on a date." Freddie snapped. " Never mind then. Yes, Violet told me to come over here, but I thought _she_ was setting _me_ up to get embarrassed. And it looks like she was. Good day." As Freddie turned to leave he felt a tug at his waistcoat and turned around to see the young man, slumped over the bar, grabbing onto him for dear life. 

"Stuart." he said, his face reddening. "My name is Stuart Bixby. I'm 19 years old , I'm gay but my mother doesn't know yet, I just started at the school, and I want to be a model." People at the bar were staring at them by then, so he released Freddie's waistcoat and slid back down behind the bar. "And I've been watching you since you came into the pub. My shift ends at 1 a.m. ." Freddie smiled at him.

"One a.m. it is. There's a small diner about ten minutes from here that is open all night..."

"Sounds great." Stuart said, just a tiny bit too eagerly. Enough to make Freddie smile. "What about your friend and Violet though?" Stuart blurted out.

"Violet and Penelope can find their way home just fine. I'm half certain they'll just pass out though and I know the owner of the pub. He'll let them stay." Freddie leaned closer to him on the bar. "It'll be just you and me."

Stuart smiled, and nodded.

Little did the young men know what life was lying ahead of them.

Forty nine plus years together.

And while they would make jokes and cracks about living different lives , mostly to get a rile out of each other, if you were to ask either of them , seriously, if they'd change anything, if they could go back in time to that night and not meet, or never get together, both men would tell you, in an offended tone "No, of course not. What rubbish."

The End.

 

 


	2. Would You Though?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash asks one day, that question everyone wonders about Freddie and Stuart, "If you could go back and change things, never meet, or get together, would you?" .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turning this into a series of one-shots.

* * *

 

"I was wondering, you two joke about it all the time, but um...if you really could go back in time, and either not meet or never get together, would you?" 

Ash asks the question one afternoon while having tea at their flat. He's been living in the building for two years now, and while he's gotten more than used to the pair and what their biting words to each other really mean, he can't help but wonder. He's talked to both of them separately about their lives and how the two met, and how they fell in love. And yet despite their insistence that they are in reality, perfectly happy in their relationship, he sometimes doubts this. ("I could have done something more! Something better! If only you'd never came up to the damn bar and opened your stupid mouth!" "You were the one who clung on to my waistcoat that night!" "CLEARLY I was _delusional_!" ) 

He asks Stuart the question, as Freddie went into the other room to take a call from his agent. ("They say I might have a role on Doc Martin!") Stuart looks rather surprised by his question, he usually does, and stares at Ash for a second before speaking. 

"Would I go back in time and never get together with Freddie?" 

"Yes. I mean. You told me about how you two met. And your first date. Like... what if you did meet but never got together, or just not met at all. Would you take that opportunity?" Stuart looks pensive for a couple of minutes, while Ash can hear Freddie in the other room shout about one actor being a hack and how they wouldn't know good acting if it bit them in the ass. "It's just... I know you two love each other but sometimes I feel like you are really unhappy, because then otherwise why would you always put each other down and seem so unhappy? I get that it's your way of talking but..."

"No no, I understand what you're saying." Stuart finally says, setting his cup down and looking a bit sad and wistful. "We've talked about this before actually. Freddie and myself. It was in the 90's and we'd had a very bad falling out. He lived with Penelope and her husband for a week and  I stayed here. There was a lot of yelling and I broke one of the lamps, he broke a vase. The dog hid in the kitchen. We...Freddie was going to leave me." When Stuart says this, his expression became even sadder and his eyes looked watery. " Admittedly, I'd started the argument, I had said some awful things, really awful. Neither of us had gone as far as I had and haven't since. I didn't mean it, obviously. Not really. It's just that...you've seen how he is, he eggs me on. Not that that's an excuse for what I said. We came to this standstill eventually and took these deep breaths and we asked each other that question. We agreed to think about it for a night, and he went back and stayed at Penelope's and I was here, and then...the next morning I woke up to the smell of coffee and breakfast being made, and went downstairs and there's Freddie in the kitchen. Cooking. He never cooks. At first I thought... this is it, he does want to split after all. Thirty years together down the drain. I  had never felt worse in my life. I'd never felt more scared. I had tried to seriously think what my life would have been like without him and...I could, to be honest, but in this scenario, I would see him everywhere. On posters in the West End, in Piccadilly Circus. At parties at Violet's or Penelope's. I'd even considered what it would have been like had Clive been interested in me. I hadn't known then that he had been. And while I would live a life without him actually in my life, as my partner, my lover, my best friend, I'd never be able to actually escape him. My mind wouldn't allow it." Stuart sighed and adjusted his seat staring at the cup he had put down. " So even if we'd never been together, we'd still have been a part of each other's lives. Even if I hadn't met him at the pub that night, we'd still know  each other. If we hadn't gotten together when we did, something much much worse would have happened."

"Something worse? What's that?" Ash asked, now rather invested in what Stuart was saying.

"There would have been the lingering feeling of 'What if?' and that is the worst. And apparently he felt...feels the same way. That morning, I sat down at the table in the kitchen and looked at him until he turned around and looked at me. I was surprised by what I saw in his expression; it was fear. Just like mine. Fear that it was all over. Fear that this was the end and we were about to throw away thirty years of our lives, thirty years with the person we loved most in the world. Thirty years that would have meant nothing when we wanted it to mean everything. He set a cup of coffee down in front of me, and set one down in front of himself, and sat down. He took my hand and he looked at me right in the eyes and said..."

" 'I wouldn't have wanted to live a life of what ifs.'" Ash and Stuart started at the voice from the door. Freddie was leaning against the door jam, his expression matching Stuart's. "I meant it then and I still mean it now." He walked over to the couch where Stuart was sitting and sat down next to him, grabbed his hand, and put both their hands on his lap.

"I feel the same." Stuart replied, smiling at the man sitting next to him.

Ash smiled at the both of them, and leaned back in his chair, considering the pair. He was right in his initial assessment of them, and right about wanting what they had someday.  Theirs was a love that stood the test of time and passed with flying colors. They were biting, scathing, vicious, and snarky, but it was just their own brand of affection, their own way of speaking. He'd never seen a couple so protective of each other. Anyone who dared say anything bad or do anything bad to one, had to face the unyielding, scathing wrath of the other. 

They were perfect.


	3. Moving In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freddie asks Stuart to move in with him-

* * *

 

It's June, 1965, and Freddie and Stuart are lounging around in Freddie's new apartment in Kent. They had been dating for close to a year now and so far so good, as the saying went. They had an admittedly rocky start but they had managed to work things out and they were relatively happy. 

Stuart couldn't help but notice how nervous Freddie had been all day, and he couldn't entirely figure out why. Okay, he had one idea as to why, but it was one he wasn't fond of. They'd spent the year together and managed to stay together, but he couldn't help but wonder if maybe Freddie was getting bored with him. His modeling career hadn't really taken off. One or two small jobs for posters that ended up on the walls of the Underground , advertising why the public should purchase this medicine or that miracle shampoo. Hardly a big deal. And that Clive fellow. Sure he was dashing and smart and witty, and everyone liked him, even, admittedly, Stuart himself, but he felt uneasy around him. He'd spent the entire summer hanging out with their little group (Consisting of Freddie, Stuart himself, Violet, Penelope, and some new bloke Penelope had met  named Mason.), even managing to make it to the obscure places they travelled to while Freddie was on tour with an acting troupe trying to revive The King's Men a la Shakespeare. Clive was always there with them. Stuart would catch him staring when Freddie wasn't looking, and would find himself absentmindedly pulling him a little closer. Was it possible that...

"Move in with me." Freddie's voice snapped Stuart out of his haze and plummeted him back to reality.

"I'm sorry, what?" Stuart stuttered, turning to look at his boyfriend, unsure if he heard him right.

"I...I am trying very badly to ask you to move in with me." Freddie repeated, a blush creeping up his neck and to his cheeks. 

"I...I ... uh....I mean..." 

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have...it's too soon. And you haven't even told your mother about us, and you probably hate  the idea and..." Freddie was cut off by Stuart leaning over and kissing him suddenly, hard, grabbing the side of his face and pulling him in closer. For a moment Freddie was so shocked he didn't move, and Stuart almost regretted his action until he too was pulled in to him, as if they were trying to become one person. After a minute air became a necessity and they broke apart, breathing heavily. Freddie smiled shyly at Stuart (Something only Stuart and Penelope could get him to do, be shy.) and Stuart smiled back. "So..."

"So..."

"I'll take that as a....?" Freddie looked at him hopefully.

"Yes. My answer is yes. I'll move in with you." Stuart replied, beaming.

"What about your mother?" 

"Lord,  she is not moving in too!"

"No no, I mean...what are you going to tell her?" Freddie asked, leaning back into the couch and pulling Stuart back with him. 

"I'll figure something out." Stuart said, waving his hand as if to wave off the issue.

"Stuart..." 

"I'll figure something out." His tone broached no argument and Freddie closed his mouth, his response dying on his lips. 

"Well then..." Freddie suddenly sprung up from the couch and pulled Stuart up as well. "What do you say we go...celebrate?" Their wicked grins matching, they walked down the hall , to the bedroom, and towards their future. 


	4. Doctor Who and the Insecure Boyfriend.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the wake of learning he'd be playing a villain on Doctor Who, Freddie can't help but wonder if Stuart, in reality, was embarrassed to be with him.

* * *

 

"You're filming an episode of what?" 

It is 1970 and they'd been living together for nearly five years. They'd fallen into a routine, not that either would ever admit to that. They were, as Stuart often said, too young for that still. They were still living in the same flat Freddie had moved into five years ago, although they were considering moving. What with Penelope living in a town with her husband, over an hour's ride away on the tube, and Violet now living in London, the couple were not entirely thrilled with being so far away from their close friends. 

"Doctor Who. That science fiction show that started in '63." Freddie replied from his spot in their bedroom. Stuart was sitting in the living room, mildly perplexed. 

"As who?" Stuart asked.

"Doctor Who!" Came the reply.

"No you nincompoop, I asked who you'd be playing!" Stuart called back. 

"Oh." Freddie walked into the room and settled down next to him. "Some alien named Lazarus. Supposedly he wants to control all the humans on the planet so he kind of puts something in the water all over the world and does some kind of mind control." 

"Sounds interesting." Stuart handed him a cup of tea, which he graciously accepted, and turned to him, a signal to go on.

"Oh yes, it should be. I doubt much will come of it though." 

"Nonsense! You're face will be on the tv nationwide! That's a big deal Freddie, I'm very proud of you." 

"Thank you Stuart." 

They settled into a comfortable silence for awhile until Freddie sighed and put the cup he'd been drinking, down. Stuart looked at him questioningly, and he cleared his throat.

"Stuart, can I ask you something? And I need you to answer me honestly." 

"Of course you can and I will. What is it?"

" Are you ashamed of me?" Stuart had not been expecting that question at all. Startled, he put his own cup down and turned to his boyfriend, a look of confusion and a bit of hurt on his face.

"No of course I'm not. What the hell gave you that idea?"

"I just feel like sometimes...sometimes you avoid going places with me, out on the town, or to pub nights with your friends. We barely visit your mother these days and I've never met any of your other family members. And I can't help but wonder if it is because you're embarrassed to be with me. I haven't done that well by way of jobs over the past few years, I know that. You can hardly brag about a boyfriend who was in two stage productions in one year. I barely get roles and it is a bit discouraging but I know it must be embarassing for you as well. If....if you wanted to...I mean... I would understand." Stuart was beyond surprised at that moment. He'd never seen Freddie with such a complete lack of self-esteem, and it was a look he didn't like. Not on Freddie. Never on Freddie. He thought back to all the times he'd been invited to go out to the pubs with his friends recently and declined in favor of staying in with Freddie and having a quiet evening. Of the times he declined to go visit his mother because he didn't want to subject Freddie to the ridicule and awful comments his mother could make about Stuart himself and others. He thought of the pride he'd felt when Freddie got cast in the play Twelfth Night at the Globe, and how they'd spent a wonderful three months in a flat in London. He wasn't embarrassed of Freddie. It was the exact opposite. He liked having Freddie at home, and always felt a bit lonely whenever Freddie was in a play because that meant months of long rehearsals and Freddie not getting in until upwards to two in the morning. Stuart was by no means clingy but he was also not one to neglect his significant other and wish him away all the time. He thought he'd made it clear to Freddie how proud of him he was and how much he loved him. He thought Freddie knew why they never went to visit his mother or go out with his friends. He thought wrong apparently. 

" Oh Freddie... you couldn't be more wrong about this and it is breaking my heart to see you so distressed over it. I'm not embarrassed by you at all. Far from it. I don't want to subject you to my awful mother. I prefer staying in and having a quiet night with you rather than go out with my friends. And I've never considered your acting career to be lacking in productions and credit. I like it when you're not doing a play. You're home more and I actually get to see my boyfriend on a regular basis rather than the one or two times I wake up before you do while you're slammed with rehearsals. I love you Freddie, and I'm sorry that you believed I didn't. I'll try to be more vocal about this. Besides..." he grinned "...how many people can say they're shagging a guy whose been on Doctor Who? You've given me gold here Freddie. Gold." Freddie burst out laughing and Stuart smiled.

"I'm glad. And I am sorry for doubting you Stuart."

"Now!" Stuart got up and went to turn the television set on. "Let's see if we can catch an episode of Doctor Who yeah? Maybe you can get some inspiration. Whose playing the Doctor now?"

"Jon Pertwee."

"Sounds good to me."

And all, as some may say, was well. 


	5. Decades In The Making

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON 2 FINALE. 
> 
> Mason finds Freddie taking a breather outside and decides it's now or never to have a talk they've been avoiding for years.

* * *

 

"Have you seen Freddie?" Mason asked a very drunk Violet, who is attempting to dance with equally drunk Ash and Penelope. 

"What?!" She replied through the music, turning her head to find one half of the dynamic duo. "Stuart's over there!" She shouted, pointing at Stuart, still at his table, talking to one of his old friends.

"No, not Stuart, Freddie! I'm looking for...nevermind, you're too drunk to help anyway." Mason made his way through the crowd over to the head table, tapped Stuart on the shoulder, and sighed, waiting for an inevitable quip. To his surprise, it didn't come. Stuart turned towards him looking somewhat annoyed but otherwise happy, and raised a questioning eyebrow. 

"Yes Mason?" 

"Where's Freddie? I wanted to talk to him." Mason asks, for what seemed like the tenth time that night. 

"He stepped out for some air, he's on the veranda." Stuart replied, eying him suspiciously before turning back to his friend. Mason muttered something about stale grudges and walked towards the other end of the room, to the double doors that led to the veranda. He found him leaning against the railing, looking out at the night sky. (Or so he supposed and hoped. After the day everyone had had, he wasn't quite up to finding his brother dead and stiff.) 

"Hello." Mason greeted as he joined Freddie at the railing, mimicking his brother's stance. 

"Hello." Freddie replied, his voice quiet. Mason chanced a glance at the man that stood next to him and saw that he was happy, truly happy, for the first time in a long while. 

"So,"  Mason began, taking out his cigarette case and offering Freddie one. Freddie shook his head, Mason shrugged, and got one out for himself. " you're finally married. How does it feel?" Freddie sighed and shifted a bit, making himself more comfortable, and making Mason wonder if that was exactly what he'd been thinking about before he'd been interrupted. 

"Different." Freddie admitted. "Although, not in the way I'd always supposed it might." 

"How did you suppose it would feel?" 

"I...I guess I thought it'd feel more...damning." Mason felt his eyebrows raise of their own accord at this, and turned to his brother, expression urging him to go on. 

"Damning?" Mason asked, after seeing his brother blush a bit in his admittance. 

"I don't know, I guess that before I thought that if Stuart and I ever got married I'd feel like I was dooming myself to devastation and monotony. That I'd be sending myself into a prison, stuck with him for eternity." 

"Freddie, you've been together for fifty years. I think it's a bit too late to reconsider the idea of escaping monotony and being stuck with him for eternity." Mason quipped. Freddie smiled. 

"I know, I know." They fell silent and watched the lights of the city before them, a minute or so passing before Freddie broke the silence. " Do you like Stuart?" Mason blinked and then stared at Freddie, his face a study in confusion. 

"Do I like Stuart? Good god man, why does it matter? This is a hell of  a time to ask, at your wedding reception. After fifty years together." 

"It does though. I mean...I guess in the end it's sort of a moot point but for all the quipping you two do, I just want to know if you like him." Mason could not believe what Freddie was asking him, and where. He turned his head back to the city and sighed. 

"Yes, Freddie. I like him. I did not like him when you two first met and started out, but I daresay I like him now. True, we argue quite a bit and there are times when I want to punch him in the face, but you know ,that's just part of knowing Stuart Bixby." Freddie laughed at the last sentence, and Mason chuckled. "When you told me you were gay when we were young, I was upset. But not because you were gay really, or rather, I wasn't upset with you, I was upset with the world. Despite England's love of saying how free and open minded we are, arseholes have always been an epidemic.  And then we went to that pub that night and you met Stuart and all I could think was... he wasn't good enough for you. I mean I thought it in passing as I saw you talk him up at the bar, not thinking much of it. I didn't know that night that you'd just met your future husband. Mind, you didn't know either I believe." Freddie nodded and raised his shoulders in an admittance of the truth of his brother's words. "And he was younger than you and just so proper looking, even at the bar, even while he worked, and you kept going back there, and eventually you two started going out, and I got worried. I was worried because you were so infatuated, so in love with him, it was getting serious so fast. And I didn't want you to get hurt. I knew you would be eventually, that was inevitable, but I hated the thought of you getting hurt like that. I was so worried about you two getting caught and getting in trouble. I knew there were two people in that equation, but the protectiveness in me singled out Stuart as the issue. Which of course led to us needlessly quipping and fighting with each other. I didn't mean to hurt you, although I know I did. I know you wanted me to like him, but it was just so hard because I just...didn't want you to get hurt like that. Which I realize now is ironic." Freddie smiled. "You are very lucky Freddie." 

"I know." 

"Not everyone finds their soulmate at such a young age." Mason paused and sighed. "Or at all."  Freddie turned towards Mason at that comment, and eyed his brother with curiosity. 

"You aren't dead yet Mason, it might still happen." 

"Freddie, it's a bit too late for me, don't you think? I've had enough failed relationships and marriages to know that I'm just not one of the lucky ones." Freddie rolled his eyes and Mason smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't roll your eyes at me _Fredrick_."

"I'll roll my eyes at whoever I like." Freddie replied, sniffing. They heard a crash coming from inside and turned to see a wide birth around Penelope, who was currently dancing wildly and holding two champagne bottles, another one smashed on the floor near her. Mason and Freddie sighed at the same time. 

"Time to round up the troops before Penny sets someone on fire. Again." Mason commented, heading for the door. 

"In her defence," Freddie added, following his brother through the doors. " she warned the Duchess to move the first time and she didn't. So that was on her." Mason laughed.

And all was well. 

The End. 

 


End file.
